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sits in her bed, Mark sitting on the chair beside it with the twins playing on the floor. Eleanora watches them quietly, Mark handing the boys blocks when they need them.

"Robbins said that the labs should be in this afternoon, Nora." Mark spoke up, even though he knew she knew this. He could sense her worry, her fear, and he just wanted to help. "After that, we'll—"

"I don't want to talk about it." Eleanora said blankly, focusing on the boys. Mark just blinked, Eleanora glancing over at him. "I don't want to think about it until I have to. Please."

Eleanora leaned forward in the bed, Luca using Mark's leg to stand up. Eleanora smiled at the boy when he grinned up at her and handed her one of his blocks, babbling to her.

"Thanks for the gift, bub." Eleanora said softly, taking the block from his hand. Mark watched as she spoke to the boys softly, his eyes sad and chest tight.

_____

enters Eleanora's room, Mark and the twins down in the cafeteria. Eleanora looks up from her article, looking over Derek's face. She can see the sadness in it and she furrows her brows.

"What's going on?"

"I know you aren't focused on work right now, and that everything going on with Sloan Spawn is at the forefront. But I thought you should know that Rachel Dawson died."

Eleanora stiffens a bit and closes her eyes, taking a deep inhale through her nose. She's quiet for a moment before speaking up again, opening her eyes.

"How?"

"She re-hemorrhaged. We weren't able to get her to the OR in time." Derek told her. He walked over and sat on the edge of her bed, taking one of her hands softly. "She was your patient and I didn't want you to hear it through the grape vine."

"Thank you."'Eleanora told him softly, nodding. It grew quiet between the two, Derek watching her carefully. Eleanora looked down at her hands and Derek finally spoke again, voice a little confused.

"Are you okay? I mean, I know you can't be , but you aren't reacting like we all thought you would. Mark talked about it and so did Meredith and Cristina from when they visited you."

"I don't think there's a specific way to react, Derek." Eleanora said blankly. She shrugged, looking up at him. "My baby is sick, she's having seizures and we don't know why yet. She...."

"She was the good thing." Eleanora continued after a moment. "After the horrible, traumatizing year we've had, she was the one good thing in our life. She was supposed to make everything make sense again, and now....now I might lose another person I love and I don't know if I can handle that."

It grows quiet again, the room tense. Derek lets out a sigh and leans forward, pressing a kiss to the top of Elenaora's head before moving her into a tight hug.

They sit there for a while, just the two of them. Just Derek and Eleanora with nobody else around to focus on, with nobody telling them what to do or when to do it.

They weren't neurosurgeons in this moment. They were just....Derek and Ella.

_____

stands in front of Eleanora and Mark, the couple tense and waiting. The woman flips through a lab report before nodding, focusing on the couple.

"The results came back. It seems..." Nadia sighs, going quiet for a moment as she tries to figure out how to say it. Eleanora huffs, glaring a bit.

"Out with it, Nadia. Please."

"Your daughter has a brain bleed in her Temporal Lobe." Nadia stated. Mark's legs give out under him and he sits in the chair beside his wife's bed, a hand going to his jaw. Eleanora freezes, listening as Nadia speaks.

"We're going to have to induce you, maybe a C-Section. I would prefer for us to do this soon, but we can focus on that later. After your daughter is born, she'll have to go into surgery to hopefully stop the brain bleed. After that, we'll have her in the NICU to monitor."

Eleanora takes a moment before she speaks up, her voice dry. "My daughter has a brain bleed?"

"Yes."

"M-my....daughter? Me? The neurosurgeon." A rough chuckle falls from Eleanora's lips, Mark slowly looking over at her. "I'm a neurosurgeon and my unborn daughter has a brain bleed, something that I-I-I can , something that I do fix. I... oh my god, this is !"

"Doll." Mark said cautiously, Eleanora's laughter growing. Her eyes were wide and a little panicked as she turned to her husband.

"Our daughter has a brain bleed, Mark! I...this is the most ironic thing to ever happen to me. What in the hell did do to deserve all the shit that has happened? When did I piss God off so badly that he decided to k-kill two of my best friends, my baby brother, and give my unborn daughter a bleed!"

"What...what did I do!" Eleanora's laugh slowly turns darker, her eyes slowly widening and tears beginning to form. "What did I do, Mark? Why...why ? What did I do?!"

Eleanora begins to sob, Mark quickly moving to sit on the bed with her and hold her into his chest. She sobbed loudly into his chest, gripping onto his shirt as though it were her life line.

Silent tears begin to fall down Mark's cheeks as well, him sniffling as he presses kisses to her head and tightens his grip on her. He looks over at Nadia, voice firm.

"Derek Shepherd will perform the surgery on our baby." Mark tells her. Nadia slowly nods, closing the folder.

"I've already sent a resident to inform him. I'll give you both a few minutes, and then we need to decide a time to induce. Dr. Robbins will be there with us, but—"

"Tonight." Elenaora choked out, squeezing onto Mark. He looked down at her, eyes softening at the absolute fear on her face. "W-we need to d-do it to-tonight. Before i-it's too l-late."